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Legally Speaking-- A cyclists' Bill of Rights

“Gaining the right to the road was the cycling cause of the late nineteenth century; securing that right will be the cycling cause of the early twenty-first century.”

Those were my closing words in the introductory chapter of Bicycling & the Law. I returned to that theme in the concluding chapter:

The time has come for a second civil rights movement for cyclists. It’s time to build on the work of Albert Pope and the 1880s generation of cyclists. It’s time to press for a Cyclists’ Bill of Rights.

Based on the issues facing cyclists today, I suggested three basic themes that a Cyclists’ Bill of Rights should address:

1. Cyclists have the right to equality of infrastructure;
2. Cyclists have the right to equal treatment under the law;
3. Cyclists have the right to equal access to insurance protection.

Two weeks ago, my call for a Cyclists’ Bill of Rights became reality, when the Los Angeles City Council voted to approve a Cyclist’s Bill of Rights. That approval is apparently preliminary; as recommended by the Transportation Committee and approved by the City Council, the Cyclists’ Bill of Rights will be forwarded to the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, Planning Department, Department of Public Works, and Los Angeles Bicycle Advisory Committee, in consultation with the City Attorney and the Los Angeles Police Department, to report with recommendations on how to incorporate the principles enshrined in the " Cyclists’ Bill of Rights" into the City of Los Angeles Bicycle Master Plan and other relevant documents and practices.

As the Council considered the motion to adopt the Cyclists’ Bill of Rights, Councilmember Tom LaBonge expressed some concern that a provision in the Cyclists’ Bill of Rights — the one stating that "Cyclists have the right to the full support of educated law enforcement” — might offend the police by implying that they are uneducated. Councilmember LaBonge is also concerned that while the Cyclists’ Bill of Rights addresses the rights of cyclists, it says nothing about their responsibilities, a “flaw” also found in the United States Bill of Rights. That’s how Bills of Rights work.

Because Councilmember LaBonge is vice-chair of the Transportation Committee, and chair of the Parks Committee, both of which will consider the Cyclists Bill of Rights before it is returned to the City Council for final approval, he will have an opportunity to edit the Cyclists’ Bill of Rights it’s returned to the City Council for final passage. It remains to be seen, therefore, what the final text of the Cyclists’ Bill of Rights will be when it comes before the City Council for final approval and incorporation into the Los Angeles Bicycle Master Plan.

Nevertheless, the City Council’s preliminary approval is an important step forward for cyclists’ rights. And that raises the question — how did my proposal for a Cyclists’ Bill of Rights end up before the Los Angeles City Council? The truth is, it didn’t. While I was busy writing Bicycling & the Law, and reaching the conclusion that we need a Cyclists’ Bill of Rights, Los Angeles cycling activist Stephen Box reached the same conclusion independently. Box and his wife Enci organized the first meeting of the Bike Writers Collective in January of 2007, at which Box presented his idea for a Cyclists’ Bill of Rights. The Bike Writers Collective enthusiastically accepted the proposal, and began working on a draft, eventually coming up with the Cyclist’s Bill of Rights — a document which independently arrives at several of the same themes I outlined in Bicycling & the Law.

It remains to be seen what final form the Cyclists’ Bill of Rights will take in Los Angeles. Councilmember LaBonge will be in a position to make changes that address his concerns before final approval. Stephen Box is determined to have it included in the new Bicycle Master Plan “as written, as ridden.” The battle isn’t over yet, and now is the time to get involved. Still, I can’t think of better news to end the year on.

As I noted last week, I’ve been working on updating my website lately, and it’s finally online, with an all-new look, and all-new content. You can check out the changes to my website at www.bicyclelaw.com, including a new blog which will be updated with new content regularly. There’s another exciting change to my website—Velologue, my new blog about bicycle culture in all its aspects, is now online. You can link to it from www.bicyclelaw.com, or you can access it directly at www.velologue.com. I hope you will visit both sites regularly.

Now read the fine print:

Bob Mionske is a former competitive cyclist who represented the U.S. at the 1988 Olympic games (where he finished fourth in the road race), the 1992 Olympics, as well as winning the 1990 national championship road race.

After retiring from racing in 1993, he coached the Saturn Professional Cycling team for one year before heading off to law school. Mionske's practice is now split between personal-injury work, representing professional athletes as an agent and other legal issues facing endurance athletes (traffic violations, contract, criminal charges, intellectual property, etc).

Mionske is also the author of Bicycling and the Law, designed to be the primary resource for cyclists to consult when faced with a legal question. It provides readers with the knowledge to avoid many legal problems in the first place, and informs them of their rights, their responsibilities, and what steps they can take if they do encounter a legal problem.

If you have a cycling-related legal question, please send it to mionskelaw@hotmail.com Bob will answer as many of these questions privately as he can. He will also select a few questions each week to answer in this column. General bicycle-accident advice can be found at www.bicyclelaw.com.

Important notice:

The information provided in the "Legally speaking" column is not legal advice. The information provided on this public web site is provided solely for the general interest of the visitors to this web site. The information contained in the column applies to general principles of American jurisprudence and may not reflect current legal developments or statutory changes in the various jurisdictions and therefore should not be relied upon or interpreted as legal advice. Understand that reading the information contained in this column does not mean you have established an attorney-client relationship with attorney Bob Mionske. Readers of this column should not act upon any information contained in the web site without first seeking the advice of legal counsel.